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Malaysia’s super specialist at fear mongering should do all Malaysians a favor by really retiring from active politics and shutting up!

He is not helping those of us addressing many issues on the grassroots and damage limitation without any personal gain whatsoever!

And why?

It is all because we love the nation and feel duty bound to address present wrongs in a holistic manner and not selectively or cosmetically!

Voters have already made up their minds and in the next few weeks we will witness many politicians and sitting MPs, State Assemblymen from both political divides making all kinds of statements from that they are quitting, or joining the opposite fraction or worse claiming to retire from active politics!

Some may even make statements of how they were enticed by millions to crossover but stayed the political course to get re-nominated despite very poor performance!

While others may say that they are doing so because they are making way for “younger and more active candidates with potential to become a leader at division level.”

But there will be a small fraction who want to quit as they realize standing will end in an embarrassing defeat even if it was what was prior speculated to be a safe seat!

The political baggage that they carry is indefensible – period!

The plain truth is that many know that they are going to be replaced or dropped so they conduct what is a preemptive strike of resigning after making private beeline to the opposite fractions.

Ultimately in all moves it is primarily the selfish greed of wanting to continue in politics despite several terms spent enriching oneself and one’s close friends and relatives!

It is worse in Sabah where it all points not to serve the state better but of personal and private interest!

It is also obvious that opposition groupings are eying all the federal seats in east Malaysia’s Sabah and Sarawak where there are 57 federal constituencies, or 25 per cent of the 222 parliamentary seats available.

If you remember carefully in election 2008, BN retained power over Putrajaya largely due to wins in east Malaysia and Labuan, where it made a near-clean sweep, winning 55 seats against PR’s two but this time issues from colossal corruption, illegal immigrants and uncontrolled greed and abuse of power!

If one thought making proactive or feel good announcements is the answer to winning elections one is again wrong like the announcement of a royal commission of inquiry on illegal, economic and political immigrants what was known then perversely as ‘Project M’ then going silent on all fronts?

In the peninsula, recent observations show a very strong swing towards the opposition and unless the incumbents can come up with a surprise recipe of qualified clean candidates and a track record of independent focused thinking and service to the grassroots, holistic policy changes, the repeal of draconian legislation, zero tolerance of corruption and kick backs, instead of fear mongering, attacks against minority groups, racist statements, spins and fabrications, badgering of Malaysian Christians through mainstream media – one might as well start shredding documents now as political environment and power is about to change drastically!

Award winning, internationally well respected, hard hitting and truthful Malaysiakini website was once again attacked starting from 2.45pm yesterday. Although the cyber attack continued, the site was fully restored at 11.30pm!

This morning it is happening again and my deep throat tells me that the ‘powers that be’ have assigned over 200 India based IT consultants to initiate these cyber attacks at unfriendly website portals!

Consumerist: Indian Politicians/Media Told – Represent Matriculation Students Or Be Voted Out!

I am upset and usually I do not address these issues but the plight of many qualified Malaysian Indians on the sidelines forces me to stand up and address this precarious issue that is been manipulated about and some playing politics instead of helping!

I am first of all advising Malaysian vernacular media both print, electronic and radio to be extremely sensitive to Malaysian Indian dignity!

It is utterly saddening to read or hear from Malaysian media the manner they trot on the dignity of Malaysian Indians!

Our politicians supposedly representing us are no better and it is super entrenched that they are there not to protect the community’s interest but that of their own agenda and political survival!

Is the agenda then to keep Malaysian Indians in bondage so that a few in silk suits, fancy ties, luxury cars and properties and returns from political patronage and tweets and put on flamboyance can continue to pick off from where past politicians left the community in shambles and plight?

Let us for an example take today’s newspapers!

One newspaper wrote about an Indian students, aged 16, from Seremban, Negeri Sembilan who attempted to commit suicide!

You must read Malaysian Namban to get the full story!

Then let us analyse the content and direction of the print among others how much space they all give to news from the India!

The first page has news on a robbery by alleged Indian gangs, then you have the story about a 27 year old lady burnt to death near her apartment, then news of a ‘small argument’ resulting in one death and in Sri kembangan an Indian father was shot to death at gun point!

In other words, what is the message to the community from these prints?

No positive message, no ideas on growth, opportunities, how to move forward, encouragement and news of strategic possibilities and alliances to uplift the downtrodden community?

Is this the way to treat Malaysian Indians?

At the other end – we hear of heart breaking news of the continued plight of Malaysian Indian students and matriculation seats.

Young PC – NRIC Number 940616106533 is reported to have asked Malaysian leaders and politicians who claim and scream 1Malaysia and other political beatitudes exactly what is his future in this land of Malaysia where his father and forefathers toiled to make what it is today!

He says:

On 21st March he received his SPM result and found out he had 9As n 2Bs.

After which he attended many seminars of Higher Education Guidance Includes Vetripadigal Organised by the MIC.

There he claims to have heard from the Pegawai Matrikulasi that an extra 1000 Places are allocated for Malaysian Indians and he was happy.

He thought he will be successful. In the first intake he was rejected!

Before second Intake there was a lot announcements that all the seats will be fulfilled!

The second announcement was made and he got rejected again!

And his dream to pursue his studies through matriculation was shattered!

His family economic situation is not healthy as his father is a Lorry driver and his mother an housewife!

His father’s salary was RM1159.00 and thus he pleads to our politicians, community leaders, the MIC and other political parties that claim that they serve the Indian community for a chance to pursue his studies through matriculation!

He has no money to enroll in private colleges, and his dream to become a chemical engineer hangs in the balance!

So Indian big boys in politics and the corporate and business world – come on and show how effective you are in helping this lad and others like him to realize their educational dreams!

As if it does not matter some very insensitive individuals, media organizations, politicians, rent a crowd/NGO groups are for political expediency saying – in their front news print pages and verbal rhetoric – ‘Malaysia Paling Selamat!’

It is a pity we are so caught up with lying, spinning, fabrication, untruths, engineering news, usually a myth that today many have become serial liars – and turning into pathological liars!

It is a pity for economic, professional and even political survival many have to lie to survive?

But let us read a testimony of a recent victim below and seek forgiveness for our unclothe behavior of hiding a truth!

I became a victim of an attempted snatch theft at The Curve by Dawn Jeremiah

This was how it began. It was around 11:15pm on Monday, 25th June and my girl friends and I just finished watching the animated film “Brave” at Cineleisure at The Curve.

As we went down the escalator, one of them named Carol said “Jo, you should teman Dawn back to her car and she can drop you back.” I, being my usual stubborn self, waved them off, saying, “Aiyo no need lah, I’ll be fine, you guys carry on.” And when Carol insisted, it struck me that we were in The Curve (where many crimes have been happening lately), and I immediately agreed with her.

So Joanne and I walked through the sliding glass doors out of Cineleisure, down the steps and took a right where the fountain was. The aim was to cross the street and get back to Ikano Power Centre, where my car was parked. This alleyway that we had to walk past wasn’t dark and it hardly looked menacing. But it was deserted; there was not a soul in sight. Nevertheless, we thought nothing of it, as neither of us felt anything amiss. So we walked and I began checking my phone messages and replying to them one by one.

Cases of recent robberies caught on CCTV! (above)

As we reached the grass area where the Volkswagen showroom was, a skinny guy that seemed to be in his early 20s, quietly sneaked up from behind us. He waited for the right moment to attack, the moment Joanne had her head turned away from me. He roughly grabbed the strap of my handbag that was on my right shoulder, almost snatching it away. I screamed on top of my lungs and yanked my handbag back in the nick of time.

The impact from his pull made me fall on my knees to the grass and my phone that

I was fiddling with fell on the ground too, together with my handbag. I was still screaming and yelled “HOI!” to the guy, but he continued to run towards the edge of the little roundabout and joined his friend, who was waiting for him on a motorcycle.

They quickly sped off towards the Kota Damansara area. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see their faces, nor the registration number on their motorcycle.

I got up and checked my belongings to see if all was in order. Joanne pulled me to the side, so that we can get away from that place, just in case those snatch thieves came back. None of the security guards at The Curve came to us, despite my screams. They were obviously nowhere near where the incident took place.

Even a middle-aged man who drove past the moment I fell, stopped at the side of the road to see if everything was okay, which was very nice of him. He looked at us curiously and I explained what happened. He said “Tu la, tadi saya nampak ada orang cuba ragut.” (Yes, earlier I saw someone trying to snatch something away”) And we told him to just be wary and mindful.

We walked next door to Royale Bintang Damansara Hotel and asked the security guard on duty, if there was a safe, indoor passageway that we could use to access the carpark at Ikano. He seemed to be a foreigner and had trouble speaking and understanding both English and Malay, pointing to the direction of Ikano. After three attempts of asking, we gave up and proceeded to cross the street.

As we crossed and headed towards the ramp down to the basement parking area, we saw three men suspiciously walking towards our direction and proceeded to also walk down the ramp, just in front of us. Joanne and I seemed to read each other’s minds when we said, “Yeah let’s forget this and go through the main entrance” and turned back, walking up to where the drop off area was, by the sliding glass doors.

At last, we saw a security guard who was sitting at the entrance of Ikano Power Centre, doing nothing. I proceeded to politely ask him if he would open a small door for us to enter to access the P2 carpark. He refused, stating gruffly that the mall is already closed, “Tak boleh buka pintu, semua sudah tutup. Kalau you mahu masuk parking, you kena turun ikut jalan kereta” (“We cannot open any of the doors, all are closed already. If you want to enter the parking area, you need to go down the ramp like how all the cars enter”), pointing directly to the ramps which we just walked away from.

Joanne and I made several more attempts before Joanne added, “Kalau encik tak nak buka pintu, tak apa. Boleh tak encik teman kita sampai ke kereta?” (“Sir, if you don’t want to open the doors, it’s okay. But can you at least walk us to our car?”)

The security guard gave me a bored and disgruntled look, and it became clear to us that we were a nuisance to his otherwise very peaceful and serene night.

Then I finally said “Encik, mintak tolong, saya baru hampir kena ragut kat depan sana tadi. Please please please tolong kami.” (“Sir, please help us. I almost got robbed by a snatch thief and it happened right where you’re asking us to walk to.

Please please please help us.”)

More disgruntled looks from the guard. He then slowly took out his walkie-talkie and started speaking in a foreign language to another guard, and then agreed to walk us to the carpark. As we walked down the ramp, he was trailing far behind us and we had to slow down several times so that he could keep up. We were walking at a normal pace.

After about 200 metres, he stopped and said, “Okay, you go now.”

We stopped on our tracks and were like, “Huh?? Can you just follow us to my car??” and he said “You go”, told us that there would be another security guard around the bend to walk us directly to my car. We thanked him and proceeded further down. When we reached the bend, to our disappointment, there was nobody there. Although the car park was brightly lit, there were no security guards in sight as what the guard promised and there were only 5 cars parked in the vast space, within our range of sight. I proceeded quickly into my car while Joanne paid the parking ticket a few yards away. We then sped off from there to make a police report.

I’m not hurt, nor was anything taken. And for that, I’m super blessed and I thank my lucky stars. My hands were very shaky, yet I willed myself to drive properly to the police station at Damansara Utama, where the officers were nice and helpful. Even when I was drawing the map to explain where I was, my hands kept shaking. But I’m glad that it only came to that.

Things could have been much worse. The snatch thief could have been armed. He could have covered my nose and mouth with chloroform, or used a tazer gun against me. There could have been two or three, or ten of them. They could have waited until we got to our cars and robbed us there. Or they could have easily brought more of their friends to come back for us, as we were still walking by the street, wasting our time talking to those so-called “security guards”. The possibilities are endless.

You would think that despite the recent series of unfortunate incidents in shopping malls throughout the Klang Valley that at least one mall would step up to launch a safety awareness campaign and to take steps to raise their security levels. Not one has been doing it.

Thanks to my friends; Carol Leong for insisting that Joanne Ho-Lee walks me back to my car and thanks to Joanne for being there with me throughout the entire ordeal and at the police station. Now I’m wary of leaving the house and as I drove home and saw families crossing the streets, I felt the urge of winding down my car window to tell them to be careful while they walk.

Thanks also to all my family members, close friends, acquaintances, colleagues, Twitter and Facebook friends and followers who have shown so much concern and care for my wellbeing. I will remember each and every one of the kind words on the phone, sms and sent online.

When the issue of foreign based hypermarkets was first addressed I was among the single digit voice ‘crying out in the wilderness’

I was upset that the growing number of hypermarkets in the country would pose a serious threat to our local cuisine – the ‘Papa and Mama stores/shops!’

Of course, I am advised, in fact reassured that I should not be worried of the likes of Walmart, Costco and Metro entering Malaysia.

Really?

Then other little and bigger Napoleons tell me that a foreign player has to adhere to stringent regulations on expansion and other requirements and also thanks to ‘zig zag policies and u-turns’ which are all part and parcel of the Malaysian scenario and thus those intending to come must brace itself for ad-hoc rules that most often than not involve extra costs.

Really?

But the truth is the rules governing foreign hypermarket operations in Malaysia have changed numerous times since 2001, so much so that it is easy to lose count on those changes that have been made.

Both whether good, bad or indeed ugly!

At present, the rules governing foreign hypermarkets in Malaysia come under The Guidelines on Foreign Participation in the Distributive Trade Services Malaysia 2004 (revised in 2010).

The guidelines, to name a few, require hypermarkets to be located beyond the 3.5km radius of a town centre, have a floor size larger than 5,000 sq metres and that only one hypermarket is allowed for every 250,000 population.

The initial rules by the then Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, coincidentally shortly after Tesco announced its entry into Malaysia, were to stop the death of sundry shops or my beloved Papa and Mama stores!

And you do not have to be a rocket scientist to know what initiated these were fears and growing complaints that the expansion of foreign hypermarkets was to the detriment of the traditional Papa and Mama shops and stores!

If I remember correctly among the foreign players already in the market at that time were Giant, Carrefour and Makro Cash & Carry.

And policies were put into place to assess the impending damage and among them, an impact and comprehensive study on a particular neighborhood.

Of course, I am aware that there were various ad-hoc rules some incorporated into the guidelines when some hypermarkets came out with an ingenious plan to go 24/7 and its immediate response from the domestic trade ministry after I screamed out loud was – a strict ‘Nay!’

After which over the weeks that followed with the outburst from consumers, papa and mama stores owners and irritated consumerist like me was new rules were again introduced!

Among them – a five-year freeze on openings in certain location was imposed and about two years ago, the ministry decided that it would not issue new licenses but simply swap old unused licenses for new ones.

Another ingenious spin?

And then, there are other obligations that a hypermarket operator has to adhere to.

Then there was the fallacy that each foreign player had to nurture and teach local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) how to label and package their products.

Did that work?

Then another ingenious person thought of another plan which I considered the ‘mother of all stupidity!’ – the so called Tukar program (small retailer transformation programme) was introduced.

Hypermarket operators are to help sundry shops to modernize and efficiently manage their stores to improve their competitiveness. Each hypermarket is required to pledge that it will transform a certain number of stores.

So poor Papa and Mama Stores had to take if I am not wrong about RM60,000.00 from a local bank to renovate their premises according to the ‘whims and fancies’ of these hypermarkets and their contractors and expose price sensitive information on their workings and virtually end up in more debt!

And since we are on this page did the guidelines, to name a few, which require hypermarkets to be located beyond the 3.5km radius of a town centre, have a floor size larger than 5,000 sq metres and that only one hypermarket is allowed for every 250,000 population work out in reality?

Or the need to hold a public hearing when the population to hypermarket ratio is not met?

The plain truth which is nonexistent in 1Malaysia a long time ago is public hearings have not worked, local councils have not all played their rightful role and obligation to hold a public hearing.

The many Napoleons there are another huge hurdle to cross!

I wonder what their interest is?

To justify my argument on the geographical area and distance!

Look at Paradigm and opposite we have Tesco, Kelana Jaya we have Giant, Subang Jaya we have the clash of the titans at Summit and main space Subang Jaya with Tesco, Mydin, Giant, Carrefour and at Kota Damansara Tesco and Carefour and at Shah Alam another clash of Tesco and Giant?

So much on the geographical spacing bull shit!

The truth is it is not working.

More frightening is at least one if not many do not own any property here, have no 30% local participation and huge profits sent home abroad!

I am advise as much as 80% goes out!

So if they decide to pack and leave our suppliers and others are royally screwed big time!

It is time to put the brakes on the mushrooming of hypermarkets in the public interest or treating them with kid gloves!

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